VIRTUAL SCHOOL VISITS

Though I much prefer (and miss!) visiting schools in person, thankfully I am available to visit your school, wherever it may be, remotely. I am an educator myself, and I bring my experience teaching online into your virtual classroom. Here’s a testimonial from one teacher, whose classroom I visited via Zoom back in May:

“This spring, our 4th and 5th graders had the privilege of meeting remotely with Todd Hasak-Lowy about his new book, We Are Power: How Nonviolent Activism Changed the World.  Todd seamlessly transitioned his presentation from an in-person to a Zoom format and actively engaged students in discussion and critical thinking throughout, focusing in particular on the women's suffrage movement and the ingredients of successful organizing.  At this unprecedented time in history and in their educational experience when so much feels out of their control, Todd and his book empowered students by providing historical models of concrete ways they can fight for justice and be change-makers in their world.“

- Kerah, teacher, Evanston, Illinois

School Visits

I’m available for school visits, discussions via Skype, library talks, and more. Contact me.

There are a number of different topics I can cover at a school visit, and I work with each school to decide which combination is the best fit for their students and curriculum.  I’ve presented to all grades from 3rd through 12th with great success.

My Philosophy of School Visits

Schools visits should be extremely interactive.  The visitor (in this case, me) should rarely ever talk for more than ninety seconds straight at any point without directing a question at students.  This is how students remain engaged and focused—it’s also how they’re most likely to learn. 

Students need to be given a chance to think aloud about questions I’ve wrestled with myself.  I can tell them my answers to these questions (How do you turn a sad, monotonous experience into a fun, exciting story?  How can you give a well-known story new life by telling it differently than everyone else?  Why is the way we tell a story as important as the events that make up the story?), but that’s a) boring, and b) not going to lead to much learning. 

My school visits often focus on writing and the creative process, but when I’m working with students, my professor/teacher self is closer to the one leading the discussion.  I’ve been teaching college students for twenty-five years, and I spent many years before that involved in informal summer-camp education.  I love learning and teaching as much as I love reading and writing.  And one thing I’ve learned along the way: when you ask the right questions and really listen to the answers, then teaching twenty year-old college students isn’t much different than working with a bunch of fifth-graders.     

We Are Power in the Classroom

My aim in talking with students about We Are Power is getting them to rethink the relationship between power, violence, and change.  I do this by walking them through the final decade of the fight for women’s suffrage (1910-1920).  Using a “choose your own adventure” format, we explore the tactics these activists employed and how their efforts ultimately led to victory. 

Throughout this activity, students learn how disruption, escalation, and sacrifice enable seemingly “powerless” activists (in this case women who couldn’t even vote) to claim power for themselves and bring about lasting change. 

At the end of this presentation, we turn our attention to the climate change movement and the meaning of students’ climate strikes.  My interest here is less to transform your students into climate activists (which isn’t to say I’d be opposed to that!), but more to get them to understand that lessons from past nonviolent movements still apply today.  Everyone, even young people, can claim power and create change, nonviolently.